Heartbreaker Wins

It was a thrilling conclusion to a nail biting event as Heartbreaker, co-skippered by Bob Hughes and Wally Tsuha, sailed to overall victory.

Going into day 4 all eyes were on the fight for second place between Revolution (Brack Duker) and Voodoo (Richard Grunsten) with John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti in forth and not out of contention for a podium finish.

The day started out clear with the northerly wind that has been blowing the entire event slightly moderated and bright sunshine bathing the racecourse. Only one race was scheduled, so it was up to the leading boats to make their mark early and keep up the pace through the finish. The race committee set another perfect line and the fleet got away with just two recalls.

The wind oscillated between 10 and 15 degrees as the fleet gybed downwind. Voodoo keeping a clear head maintained their clear lead and by the bottom mark had only to cover the competition to hold onto second overall. It looked certain that Heartbreaker was not going to allow enough boats between Voodoo and themselves to drop out of first place overall and Revolution still looked secure in third place. That was until Samba Pa Ti turned on the afterburners. Hitting each shift perfectly they sailed through the fleet and into second place for the race. With Revolution dropping back into seventh, Samba Pa Ti did indeed sail their way onto the podium, their DSQ for race 4 keeping them out of contention for the top two spots.

Final results:

1HEARTBREAKER, B Hughes & W Tsuha, 35 pts
2VOODOO, Richard Grunsten, 36 pts
3SAMBA PA TI, John Kilroy, 41 pts
4REVOLUTION, Brack Duker, 42 pts
5GEM, Bill Ziegler, 66 pts
6ISKRABorys Jarymowycz, 57 pts
7FLASH GORDONHelmut Jahn, 64 pts
8INFERNOPhil Dowd, 68 pts
9PENDRAGONBrian Jackman, 69 pts
10NITEMARETom Neill, 71 pts